ENERGY VALUES OF RATIONS FOR FARM ANIMALS. 29 
The weighing of coarse fodder is usually a more difficult problem 
on account of its bulk. When, however, silage or cut fodder is 
handled in trucks, the matter is still comparatively simple. Long 
fodder, on the contrary, is not readily weighed. Nevertheless, even 
here an occasional weighing, if practicable, as a control upon the 
feeding, is very desirable. 
In all these and similar matters common sense is necessary. The 
computed ration expresses the best estimate that can be made of the 
actual average requirements, but it is at best more or less of an 
approximation. It would be foolish, therefore, to seek extreme 
exactness in realizing it or to go to more expense in the weighing 
and apportioning of the feed than the saving in the latter would 
amount to. The scale upon which the feeding is conducted will play 
an important part. Where scores or hundreds of animals are being 
fed, an exactness may be profitably sought which would be absurd 
in the case of two or three animals. Finally, it should be remem- 
bered that these computed rations are guides and not recipes. They 
may aid the feeder in wisely using the resources at his command, 
but they can not take the place of experience and good judgment. 
BEARING ON FARM MANAGEMENT. 
The data and the methods of computation on previous pages will 
aid the feeder in determining the amounts of each class of feeds 
needed for each class of his animals. The man of good business 
habits will find them useful in determining the quantities of each 
kind of feed to grow or purchase and in deciding upon the purchase 
of animals to feed and the feeds to keep or to purchase for feeding 
them. These facts and methods will aid the farmer, the feeder, or 
the user of work animals in deciding upon the chances of profit in 
proposed enterprises. Often by using these formal ways of check- 
ing up a proposed business project the way is made more clear to 
avoid loss and to secure the largest practicable profit. In case of the 
farmer who grows most of his feed stuffs, these facts and methods 
of calculation may often be used in connection with the planning 
of his scheme of crop rotation and in proportioning the acreages of 
the respective crops to each other and to the numbers of each class 
of animals. They will prove useful in reducing the farm-manage- 
ment plan to a scientific basis. 
